By: Staff Writer
July 14, 2023
The issue of handling certain weapons in the region became the focus of regional attorney generals during a CARIOM Regional Workshop on Achieving the Universalization of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, held in Trinidad and Tobago this week.
The meeting hosted by CARICOM IMPACS, along with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the generous sponsorship of the European Union (EU). The Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) membership in the CARICOM consists of four (4) CARICOM Member States as parties to the Convention. Parties presented a compelling case for the universalization of the CCW and its benefits to the CARICOM region, including demonstration of the region’s commitment to humanitarian norms, advocating for responsible behaviour and holding other States to account, protecting civilians and peacekeepers in an interconnected world, preventing future conflict, promoting security, transparency and international cooperation and upholding our region’s reputation and diplomatic relations.
The TT Attorney General, Reginald Armour, S.C, in delivering remarks during the opening ceremony, emphasized the importance of these discussions among CARICOM States, while highlighting Trinidad and Tobago’s sustained regional efforts as it relates to combating the issue of small arms, light weapons and nuclear weapons as well as the need for consideration on the issue of LAWS and the CCW.
Noting that the region was not immune to the potential risks posed by the development and deployment of autonomous weapons, he shared that it was “our duty to come together as we are doing now and, in fact, to build off of the solid security foundation laid thus far by maximising this opportunity to exchange knowledge and to collaborate on finding solutions that protect our societies and uphold universal humanitarian principles”.
He said striking the right balance between harnessing the benefits of technology and upholding commitments to human rights and international law is an “intricate challenge.”
The Attorney General in advancing a common CARICOM position, shared that “TT and Caricom have always taken proactive and leading roles in the areas of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, particularly as it relates to the issue of small arms and light weapons and nuclear weapons.”
The Executive Director of the Trinidad-based Caricom Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jones, in addressing the conference spoke to changes that have been occurring at a rapid rate around the world through the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), which he said was “quickly growing and expanding, transforming all areas of society, including advances in weapon technologies”.
Speaking to the international legal framework which he notes is essential to address this, is found in the “a critical format in which lethal autonomous weapon systems are mainly addressed is the Convention on Certified Action Weapons (CCW). He however noted the challenge being that “only four Caribbean member states are high-contracting parties to the CCW. Moreover, since the CCW and the evaluation process commenced in Geneva in 2014, only one Caribbean high-contracting party of the CCW, of one Caribbean observer state, has attended a CCW conference regarding lethal autonomous weapon systems”.
To this he says the voices of small island developing states are not heard, “our views are not considered, and our perspectives are not part of the conversation, nor are our needs or ideas addressed in discussions relating to lethal autonomous weapon systems,” and only then can SIDS add value to these discussions when Caribbean countries “have a seat at the table.
Lt.Col. Jones added that “For our interest to be factored into national instruments, we must be active players in the rule discussions. Therefore, my key aim of this workshop is to support states that are not part of the UN CCW to gain a more in-depth understanding of the purpose and function of the convention, as well as the benefits of joining, and to encourage them to become more involved in CCW meetings, relevant activities, and other related regional and global forums.”
He said the region needs to enhance its shared awareness and technical literacy of all AI technologies.
Also present representing the EU, was Peter Cavendish, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the European Union delegation, who sought to remind those gathered of its meeting back in 2018, when the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an international ban on lethal autonomous weapon systems.
He added that as part of the international body of representatives for the EU, in the words of “Joseph Borrell, the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security, has remarked and encouraged…the EU institutions and the EU delegations to do three things: to help them out, to set out, to follow the main trends and forces that are shaping the world and know what to do.To understand that we are partners, we need to develop a broad approach to security and that we need to get the balance right. We have to protect our interests but also the interests of our partners”.
Carolyne-Melanie Regimbal, chief of service at the UN’s Office for Disarmament Affairs’ Geneva office, however, remarked that Caribbean is free of nuclear weapons and a zone of peace. And while the international security landscape poses “an increasingly complex, multidimensional challenge occurring against the backdrop of global erosion of trust in multilateral systems, she added that “Now more than ever, we must reiterate our supportive effect to multilateralism in order to ensure a safer and more sustainable world that puts humans at its centre.”
Just last week, US State Secretary Antony Blinken, as well as US House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the assurance to CARICOM the issue of gun trafficking in the Caribbean will be addressed, while he shared that US attorney Michael Ben’Ary had been appointed co-ordinator for the US Department of Justice’s Caribbean Firearms Prosecutions, a position only created in June 2023.